Don't

Sixteen

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm saving you from insanity" Charlie says as she holds my phone close to her chest after snatching it from me, "you've been staring at this thing all day"

"Give it back!" I get up from the sofa

She runs to her room, slamming the door and locking it, knowing full well that was the only way she could keep it out of my reach. One of the downfalls of her being shorter than me. "What is so important that you're making yourself cross eyed staring at this screen all day? You aren't even doing anything. You just sit there looking at it!" She yells through the door.

I took a deep breath and stared at the door for a few seconds. I needed to tell her, I should tell her. Charlie knew me so well, she can tell I've not been myself since I've been back. She knows something's wrong, and I can tell she wants to ask but doesn't because she respects, and understands that I'll come clean when I'm ready.

I go to the hallway, slipping on my biker boots and grab my house key from the side bench. I should tell her I'm leaving but I didn't trust myself to open my mouth. I had to think about how I would even start the conversation. How would she react when knowing I hid something like this for the two weeks I've been back?

I decided on just shutting the door a little louder than necessary as I left, knowing the sound would ring through the flat. I put my keys and hands into the pockets of my jeans and cursed myself for forgetting my cigarettes on the coffee table in the living room. Luckily I had my purse, so at least I had an idea of where I was going now.

~

I returned to the flat three hours later. My clothes soaked through from the random downpour that had occurred. Beautiful weather, London, keep it up! I drop my keys, purse and lighter onto the side bench, groaning at the heavy material of my soaked jeans as I went to look for Charlie.

"Hey" I say finding her in the kitchen, head in the fridge

She looks up at me and her eyes quickly widen in shock, "Dylan, what the hell? Look at your clothes"

"I'm ready to talk" I smile timidly and she nods, "I'm just going to get changed real quick" I turn to head out the kitchen

"Dyl" She calls, I stop but don't turn around

"Yeah?"

"Chocolate or wine?"

"Definitely chocolate" I reply before going to change out of my wet clothes

I change into some leggings and large sweatshirt then open the wardrobe and pull out Luke's T-shirt, going to the living room and sitting comfortably on the sofa. This could take a while. I smile as Charlie walks in with two mugs of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows on top, placing them down on the coffee table before smiling and getting herself situated next to me.

"So... Talk" she says

I look down, playing with the sides of the folded T-shirt in my lap, "we could be here a while" I smile sadly

"Is that?..." Her voice high in realisation, "did you buy that just because Luke has one?" She pointed at the shirt

See, Charlie was also a 5 Seconds of Summer fan but she wasn't that big on social media. She was rarely active on it, and I figured since she didn't call about the Ashton pictures, or mention it when I got back, that she just hadn't seen them. So what I was about to tell her would be a complete surprise.

Worst of all, her favourite was Luke!

I shook my head, "No" I glanced up at her and her face was blank, "this... This is... It's Luke's"

"It's what?"

"It's Luke's shirt" I handed it to her, biting my lip nervously, "one second" I got up and went to my bedroom, grabbing the photo from where I kept it underneath my pillow that night, going back and sitting in front of her again, "it's kind of a long story" I handed her the photo.

"You met him?" Her eyes were wide, "and you never told me, what the fuck?"

"You see, it's kind of complicated. I'll just start from the beginning..."

So I did. I told her everything, from how I first met them without truly realising who I was talking to, the walk back from the beach with extremely bad coffee, the movie nights, the late night drives with Ashton, the talks with Calum, Michael's man-cave, the parties, the afternoon spent with Luke and the fact he didn't come to say goodbye.

It took just over an hour, I think.

"... And that's why I didn't want to unpack, it was like I was closing the door on something, you know? But that's when I found the shirt, I don't know how, or when he managed to put it in there, but there it was. It had a note that just said he liked it better on me, and the picture was inside too"

"That's why you cried the other day, when you sang that song? It reminded you of Luke" her voice was quiet and calm, I nodded, "You're in love with him?"

I smiled, looking at her with teary eyes, "yes, very much. Wow, I've never said it out loud before" I let out a sigh, "it seems that he doesn't feel the same though" I shrug, wiping my eyes with the end of my sleeve

"Are you crazy?" She said in a frustrated tone, "he must feel something or he wouldn't have given you this" she holds up the shirt

"You're not mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" She shakes her head in disbelief

"Because it's Luke"

"Oh please. Dylan, you can't help who you fall in love with. I just want you to be happy. I miss my Dylan. You haven't been her since you got back, and I'm just glad I now know why" she takes a deep breath, motioning to the shirt, "so what are we going to do about this?"

"It's just a shirt"

"No, it's not. This was his goodbye, Dylan. You say he hasn't contacted you but neither have you! He gave you this, he probably thought you'd unpack as soon as you got here, like a normal person, and call him about it!" She threw the T-shirt into my lap, rubbing her hands over her face, letting out a groan in annoyance, "this was so not a chocolate talk" she got up, picking up her now empty mug, and walking towards the kitchen

"I text him" I say quietly before she could get to the door

She turned quickly, "what?"

"I text him... This morning, when I woke up, that's why I was looking at my phone all day" I keep my head down, just looking at the photo, "I told him that I loved the gift, and thanked him. I even put a kiss on the end"

"And?"

"I don't know" I laughed slightly, "you still have my phone"

She face palmed running to her room and coming back with my phone, handing it to me, "so?"

I quickly swipe at my phone's screen and let out a shaky breath, looking up at her as I feel my heart begin to break,

"Nothing"